Mary Fleming

Mary Fleming (1542-January 1581) was a Scottish noblewoman and a lady-in-waiting to her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.

Biography
Mary Fleming was born in 1542, the daughter of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming; she was born in the same year as her father's capture at the Battle of Solway Moss. She was the illegitimate granddaughter of King James IV of Scotland and the cousin of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Mary of Guise chose Mary Fleming to serve as a lady-in-waiting to her cousin. Her father died at the 1547 Battle of Pinkie, and Mary Fleming accompanied Queen Mary to the French court in 1548. She became one of her closest friends and companions, and she later married the Queen's secretary William Maitland of Lethington. She died in 1581.